[526] 
BRITISH LEGISLATION. 
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ACTS PASSED in the’ FIFTH YEAR of the REIGN of GEORGE ane rounrH, “OF in’ the 
_. FIFTH SESSION of the SEVENTH, PARLIAMENT of the UNITED iINGDOM. 
i 
AP. CXIUIL.. An Act to Amend and 
_ Consolidate. the, Laws relating to 
the Abolition of the Slave Trade. 
This aet begins by reciting, that it is ex- 
pedient that the various enactments, relating 
to slavery and. the slave trade, should be 
consolidated and amended, and proceeds to 
repeal all the statutes previously in force 
on the subject, and to make other provisions 
in their stead. 
The statute then makes it unlawful, ex- 
cept in the cases afterwards specified, to 
do any of the following acts relating to 
slaves :— 
1. To purchase, trade in, barter, or con- 
traet for slaves, or persons intended to be 
dealt with as slaves, 
2. To carry away or remove, or contract 
for the carrying-away or removing, or con- 
tracting for slaves, or persons to be used 
as‘ slaves. 
3. To import, or contract for importing, 
or to ship, receive, or detain on board any 
vessel, slaves, or persons to be dealt with 
in that character. 
4. To fit out, navigate, or take to freight 
or hire, or contract for, any vessel for pur- 
poses relative to the objects, previously de- 
clared unlawful. 
5. To lend or advance money, or become 
security for such loan, or contract for such 
loan, or the supply of goods, to be employed 
in purposes declared unlawful; or to be- 
come guarantee for agents employed in ac- 
complishing objects or executing contracts 
previously forbidden ; or to engage as part- 
ner, agent, or otherwise, in such purposes. 
6. To ship, lade, or receive on board any 
vessel, money, goods, or effects, to be em- 
ployed i in accomplishing objects or creating 
contracts declared illegal. 
7. To take the command, or to navigate, 
or enter on board, any vessel, in any capa- 
city, knowing tbat it is to be employed in 
any of the purposes forbidden by the statute. 
8. To insure, or contract for insuring, 
slaves, or any property to be employed in 
the execution of purposes forbidden by the 
statute. 
‘In subsequent parts of the statute, all 
these acts, except the entering on board a 
slave ship as a petty officer, seaman, or 
marine, are made felonies, punishable with 
transportation, for a term not exceeding 
fourteen years, or with imprisonment and 
hard labour, for a term not less than three 
years, nor exceeding five years, at the dis- 
cretion of the court, in which the offender 
shall be corivicted. And the offence of 
serving, or contracting” ‘to serve, in the sub- 
ordinate capacities referred to, is made 
punishable asa misdemeanor, not only in 
the parties themselves, but in their aiders 
219( 
2¢ 
and procurers, with imprisonment fi fo ip tet 
not exceeding two years. "The ¢o onveying 
or shipping of slaves, or persoris intended 
to be used as slaves, on the high seas, arid’ 
within the jurisdiction of ‘the “Admiralty, is 
made piracy, and punishable, a8 sich, witli 
death, and forfeiture of goods er kt 
Besides these criminal enact ents, th 
dealing in slaves, or contracting” et 
them, and the shipping them, are ea 
subject to a penalty of £100 for every per-, 
son so dealt with, one moiety to the king, 
and the other to the informer, All ia 
fitted out for the purposes of the slaye 
are declared subject to forfeiture, with all 
effects on board which may belong to. their 
owners. Parties advancing money or goods, 
or giving security or becoming ntee 
for such purposes, are made liable to forfeit 
double the value of the loan, or of the money 
which they agree to secure. Persons ship- 
ping, or contracting to ship, money or goods, 
to assist in accomplishing, the objects de- 
clared illegal, are subjected to a similar 
penalty.. Insurers of slaves, or property 
employed illegally; in reference to them, are 
liable to a penalty of £100, and to the for- 
feiture of treble the premium, and the insu- 
rance is declared void. It is also provide 
that the criminal enactments shall not a 
feet the right of informers to’ sue for penal- 
ties. Offences committed on the high seas 
are to be tried in courts of Admiralty ; other 
offences, by commission under 46 Geo. ITT.; 
but\all offences may be tried in Middlesex. 
Suits for penalties must be brought within 
five years ; but slaves illegally imported may 
be condemned as forfeited at any period. 
None of the provisions of the act are to 
apply to trading in slaves “Tawfully being” 
within any colony or place belonging to his 
Majesty, in case the contract or transfer 
shall be made with the true intent of work- 
ing the slaves within the same colony. 
Such slaves may also be removed, by land, 
or coastwise, from one part of an island to 
another, and from one island to another, 
within the same goyernment, by special 
licence from the Governor. His. Majesty 
also, by Order.in Council, may,, till July 
1827, authorize the removal of slaves from 
one island in the West Indies to another, 
making regulations for their benefit, and 
taking security from their masters for the 
due performance of such regulations, Con- 
vict-slaves may be , pursuant ‘to 
their sentence; domestic slaves may, after 
due entry and certificate, attend was 
ters by sea; and slaves generally inay de 
employed in navigation, fishing, or, atthe 
order of the Commander-in-Chief, ‘im the. 
military or naval service, without any lia- 
bility under the statute. 
Slaves, 
